ACT NOW! Urge US Senator Not to Hinder Security Aid to Israel

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Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is seeking to alter the US-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act, which would jeopardize both Israel and the US. We must urge him to abandon this proposal.

Senator Rand Paul (R, KY) is seeking to alter the US-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act. By doing so, he is jeopardizing both Israel and the US.

The US-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018 (S. 2497) is a bipartisan bill that seeks to ensure Israel has the military means required to defend itself, by itself, against a range of looming threats.

The legislation supports full funding of security assistance to Israel as outlined in the historic 2016 US-Israel Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on security assistance.

Facing constant threats on its borders, Israel is forced to spend more on defense, based on percentage of its GDP, than any other nation in the industrialized world.

This bipartisan bill supports $3.3 billion in security assistance to Israel and $500 million in cooperative missile defense funding in the fiscal year 2019.

Annual security assistance to Israel is the most tangible manifestation of American support for the Jewish state.

However, Paul is seeking to amend the bill and gradually decrease US aid to Israel over the next decade, until it is completely gone.

This is clearly harmful to Israel’s security as well as to that of the US, which reaps the benefits of Israel’s achievements in the spheres of security development and technology that are funded by the bill.

Moreover, the vast majority of the security assistance is spent purchasing American products, and therefore the aid is essentially an investment in the US economy.

Paul aims to ensure that US taxpayer dollars are spent astutely, which is commendable. However, there is no wiser foreign aid investment than American aid to Israel.

We must contact Paul and request that he abandon his proposed amendment to the Act, which would undermine US-Israel security cooperation and American aid to the Jewish state. This move is against the national security interests of the United States.